


Velvet

by Vikingfangirl23



Category: Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Genre: Betrayal, Character Death, Female Friendship, Murder, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 17:36:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4068670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vikingfangirl23/pseuds/Vikingfangirl23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Azza, a member of the Sewer Folk, has ever wanted was to be one of the Velvets she adores. One day, she finally gets the chance to live her dream… but at what cost?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Velvet

The Market where I met Blip was the same Market where I first saw them. They were beautiful and bold, serene in their fancy dresses. The crowds parted before them. I stalked them for a bit, watching how they moved and spoke. They radiated power. I decided that day that I wanted more than anything, though I knew it was impossible, to be a Velvet.  
So Blip and I, as two orphaned Sewer Kids in the same situation, found an alcove to live in and a cheap concealment spell to hide us from thieves. A pile of blankets, a net for pulling junk from the river, and a music box with a lock for valuables were all we needed. It wasn’t much, but we were alive, a great accomplishment for Sewer Folk. When I woke up one morning, she was signing some nonsense about a dog and Dunnikin, the chief of Sewer Folk.  
"Slow down, Blip. What happened?" I signed.  
"Dunnikin found a cocker spaniel! He wanted t’ kill it, but I told him we’d take care of it!" Blip gestured excitedly.  
"Really, Blip? We don’t have th’ stuff t’ take care of ourselves, much less a dog. We’re gonna sell it at th’ Market, okay?" I rubbed my eyes.  
"But, Azza..." Blip managed to convey a whine through her hands.  
"No." She knew when to stop arguing with me. The battle won, we headed down to the fishing area. Dunnikin had his net in the water, scooping expertly for something white and gleaming. Blip knelt beside him to extract the find from the tangled net.  
"Cat skull." Dunnikin signed, and tossed it in his pile of finds. "Take th’ dog." It was a sad little thing, coughing and weak.  
"Blip, that thing in’t gonna make it t’ th’ Market." I told her unsympathetically. Somebody had to make sure we had the stuff to stay alive, and a dying dog wouldn’t help us any.  
"No, please! We c’n feed ‘im, and get ‘im warm, and ’ll be fine." She stroked the thing’s head. It coughed once into her hand, then slumped to the floor.  
"It’s dead." I told Dunnikin. "You c’n ‘ave it." He nodded, and turned back to the water. "Come on. Let’s get t’ our spot and try to find somethin’ for tonight." Blip, poor stupid thing, kissed the dog’s head before following me to our ledge. I think I saw her wipe her eyes, too.  
It wasn’t that I didn’t like Blip. She was smart and a hard worker, but she was far too nice. In some places, niceness gets you friends. In London Below, niceness gets you dead. I had to look out for us both, to make sure she didn’t sell everything we had to feed a pathetic looking kid or try to adopt a dying dog like she did that day.  
It was a slow day. At noon, I left Blip to her netting and went to go see the Velvets. I worked for them sometimes, going on errands and such. I liked to think they’d promote me one day. Lamia was waiting for me at the entrance to their hideout in King Cross Station. She beckoned, and I followed her to a quiet corner nearby.  
“Azza, thank you for coming. I need you to take this,” She pressed an iphone into my hand. It looked so out-of-place in my grubby fingers. “and follow the Marquis de Carabas. He says some very interesting things, you’ll find, that I need to know. He has three companions, the Lady Door, Hunter, and an upworlder. Just record a few conversations, and get back here. And no telling, right?”  
“‘Course, ma’am. You c’n trust me.” I told her. I’d learned to speak instead of using the handsigns Sewer Folk preferred for the Velvets.  
“And you can trust me,” Lamia smiled coldly.  
“I know I c’n trust you,” I started, a little scared of what I wanted to say. “So I ‘ave a secret.”  
“What is it?” Lamia asked, leaning down. She was the only Velvet who would converse with me past the necessary, like this chat.  
“I want t’ be a Velvet,” I blurted. Lamia recoiled.  
“Why would you want that? Azza, listen to me and listen to me well: You do not want to be like me. Don’t let the others hear of this, okay? Never.” She shook me, hard, until I nodded. “Then run along.”  
I ran as fast as I could. Had I just lost my most powerful ally? Had I lost my only chance at becoming a Velvet? The Market wouldn’t truly start for a while, and the marquis didn’t have a stall that I knew of, so he wouldn’t be there yet. So I went to a place I knew better than any other: home.  
Find anythin’? I asked Blip, who was still scooping the water for stuff to sell.  
Enough, was her answer, quiet and uneasy. I think. There in’t much.  
Alright. Keep workin’, I’ve got an errand t’ run for a little extra stuff. I’ll split it with you, okay? I guess even I was able to be nice sometimes. A loud clap sounded from Dunnikin’s spot. Blip and I scampered over to help, sending our little net out to scoop up a...a foot? What had he found?  
It took the combined effort of every Sewer Folk in the area to pull the body from the water. Dunnikin examined the body and gave a bit of loot from the poor soul’s pockets to everyone who’d helped. Blip and I got two marbles each. Then I saw the fellow’s face. It was the marquis, the one I was supposed to follow, dead. I snapped a picture on the iphone, and stepped back.  
Blip knew I had a job, so she went straight back to the ledge and let me go my separate way. I followed Dunnikin, staying in the shadows, to the Market. I needed to keep track of that body. The majority of my time at the Market was spent in the shadows, watching Dunnikin’s stall. I caught Blip’s eye and signed that I was on the job, and that she should swap without me.  
A large man came to the stall and asked for the body. After a time haggling, he left with it in a baby carriage. I followed, out of the Market, through the streets of London Above, to a portion of the London Wall. I snapped a picture from across the street of the man hauling the corpse on top of the wall.  
As soon as I thought it was clear, I climbed up too, just poking my head over the side. The man talked to his birds for a moment, his back to me, then placed a silver box on the marquis’s chest. Remembering the iphone, I pulled it out and made a clip of the strange procedure. He took a toasting fork and brought it down on the contents of the box, causing a huge wind to nearly blow me off of the wall. It rippled all over London Above, radiating out from the silver box.  
When I looked again, the marquis sat up and coughed. He was alive! They spoke cryptically for a few minutes. It sounded like the marquis had gotten information from people talking around his corpse, but he didn’t reveal it to the man who had saved him. Then the marquis started climbing down the wall, so I retreated across the street again. With a zoom feature, I captured them leaving for the Market, but got none of their conversation.  
The marquis wasted little time at the Market, and soon left for Down St. I stopped outside the building, and shut off the iphone. No way was I going in there. The Market had shut down by the time I got back, so I returned to the alcove I shared with Blip. She was fast asleep, a sandwich left out for me by her side. I took a bite, thinking about the crazy day I’d had.  
\---------------------------  
The next morning, Blip told me about the catch this month: She had traded away our heavy winter jackets for food, as it was nearly spring. Besides enough food for the month if we were careful, she’d gotten a hairbrush for us to share and a nicer net.  
For the second day in a row, I told her I had a job and that she’d have to take the net by herself. It was only Blip’s positive assumptions that she hadn’t accused me of lying about the job and hanging out while she worked. I guess that was why we were friends.  
The Velvets’ den was dark, as they were sleeping through the day. I knocked loudly, hoping someone inside would wake up and hear me. There was a rustling noise, and the door opened.  
“Hello?” Gwynyth said, rubbing sleep from her eyes.  
“Um, it’s Azza. Lamia sent me t’ track th’ Marquis de Carabas, and I got a bit of infr’mation.” I explained.  
“Did she? Well, that’s interesting. She didn’t tell me she was spying on the marquis before she stole the iphone and left without a word.” Gwynyth wasn’t really talking to me now, more to herself. I didn’t respond. “Velvets! Wake up!” The three other Velvets stumbled to the door. “Did Lamia tell any of you that she was spying on the marquis?” she demanded. They all shook their heads. “Well, then she was keeping secrets from us. A traitor. And you all know what happens to traitors, right?” The Velvets nodded eagerly.  
Gwynyth snatched the iphone from my hand and flipped through the pictures and videos I’d taken. Her perfect eyebrows arched. One of the other Velvets, in dark red, smiled at me.  
“Come inside, Azza. We’ll send out a party to look for the traitor soon.” she said. I stepped inside, and nearly fainted. The Velvets had real beds, wardrobes, tables, chairs...there was so much finery. I sat down at the table, trying not to touch anything lest I dirty it. Gwynyth had just opened her mouth when Lamia burst in.  
“Hello. We were expecting you.” Gwynyth said quietly. Lamia reeled in shock, then saw me. Her face contorted as she figured out what had happened.  
“You,” she sneered. “I will get you for this.” And she was gone.  
“Velvets, Azza, come on. We’ll catch her.” Gwynyth ran down the tunnel after Lamia. We twisted through air vents and sewers until we came to the Sewer Folks’ tunnels. My short legs could barely keep up, but it was worth it: I was one of them, right where I wanted to be. Then a shudder ran through me. Lamia had stopped in front of our alcove, and struggling against her knife was Blip.  
Everyone stood perfectly still.  
“Well?” Lamia said. “Would you sacrifice your little friend to get your reward from the pretty Velvets? ‘Cause she dies if you take one step towards me.”  
Help. Azza. Help. Please. Blip signed.  
I would have tried to save her. I really think I would have stopped Lamia and saved Blip, but Gwynyth turned to me and said the eight words that decided my fate: “Are you a Sewer Kid, or a Velvet?” Where did my loyalty lie, she asked. And I chose.  
I’m sorry. I answered, and lunged at Lamia.  
It was over quickly, but not quickly enough to save Blip. She was dead before she hit the ground. I’d like to say that it hurt me to see her die. I’d like to say that I still miss her and all that nonsense. But I Gwynyth said I could have one reward for helping them stop Lamia. And, well, what else could I ask for?  
I am a Velvet now. I don’t have to feel. I barely remember my life as Azza, when I lived in an alcove and worried about food and worked as an underling for Lamia. I am powerful now, with abilities little pathetic Blip and the old me couldn’t even dream of. I took Lamia’s things and name and black dress and rank, as leader of the Velvets. I took all of her power when she died. I am so, so strong. And I am so, so cold.


End file.
